for richer, for poorer dr. debora price [email protected] talk delivered to putney high school...
TRANSCRIPT
For Richer, For Poorer
Dr. Debora [email protected]
Talk delivered to Putney High School 6th Form
7th October 2009
I, (Bride/Groom), take you (Groom/Bride), to be my (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.
Gerontology... the study of ageing
How old is old?• Under 40?• Between 41 and 50?• Between 51 and 60?• Between 61 and 70?• Between 71 and 80?• Between 81 and 90?• Over 90?
Quiz: True or False• Half of all girls aged 16 in 2009 in the United
Kingdom are expected to live beyond the age of 90
• True – median life expectancy for a girl aged 16 in 2009 is 90.6 years old. It is plausible that half of this cohort will live to 97.
Quiz: True or False• There are currently more than 1 million people
over the age of 85 living in the United Kingdom today
• True: Of the 61.4 million people, there are over 1.3 million people over 85 living in the United Kingdom – almost double the number in 1983. The over 85s are the fastest growing population age group.
Quiz: True or False• There are currently more than 10,000 people
over the age of 100 living in the United Kingdom today
• False, but only just. There are estimated to be 9,600 centenarians living in the United Kingdom. There are about 309,000 women and 108,000 men over the age of 90.
Do you agree or disagree?• In our generation, men and women
should be equal and independent within partnerships
• Individuals should take the responsibility for whether they save for a pension
Gender differences in net weekly income, men and women in couples, over 65
Median Median gapMedian women's income
as % of men's
AGE Men Women
All 65+ £180 £69 £110 39%
n= 1,850/1.441
Source: ELSA, Wave 1, 2002/3Note: includes individual income from paid work, private and occupational pensions, state pensions, income support, state benefits, income from assets and all other sources of income. All income is measured at the individual level (although one partner often answers for both), except income from assets, which has been apportioned equally between partners.
13
Quintiles of Individual Income, 65+ in Couples, according to sex
14Source: ELSA, Wave 1, 2002/3Couples where at least one member is over 65
But what about for young people?
The gender pay gap widened last year ...
The gender pay gap for hourly earnings, excluding overtime; April 1997 to April 2008, Source: Office for National Statistics 2009
Quiz: True or False• Nowadays, boys and girls who graduate from
university will earn similar amounts on graduation
• False – in a study following university graduates for seven years, research showed that men begin to earn more than women in the year after graduation, and that the gap then grows.
The gender pay gap widens for graduates each year after graduation
Source: Purcell and Elias 2008
Children and Earnings• 54% of mothers with a child under 5 are in
employment, 66% with a child under 16; the majority part-time
• 91% of fathers are in employment, almost all full time
• Fathers work the longest hours of all men• The motherhood ‘pay gap’ & the fatherhood
‘premium’
19
Median weekly earnings according to motherhood and age group
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
never had a child youngest 0-4 youngest 5-9 youngest 10-15 youngest 16+ (homeor away)
Med
ian
gros
s w
eekl
y ea
rnin
gs
20-29
30-39
40-49
20
Source: General Household Survey 2000/1 and 2001/2, mothers whose dependent children live elsewhere, and those looking after others’ children have been excluded; authors’ analysis
Percentage contributing to additional pensions by motherhood and age group
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
20-29 30-39 40-49Age group
Pe
rce
nt
never had a child
youngest 0-4
youngest 5-9
youngest 10-15
youngest 16+(home or away)
21
Source: General Household Survey 2000/1 and 2001/2, mothers whose dependent children live elsewhere, and those looking after others’ children have been excluded; authors’ analysis
Women
Age Group
55-5950-5445-49'40-4435-3930-3425-2920-24
Mean R
atio o
f ow
n e
arn
ings t
o join
t earn
ings
.42
.40
.38
.36
.34
.32
.30
.28
.26
.24
22
Degree of Earnings Inequality within Couples:
Women aged 20 to 59
Source: General Household Survey 2000/1 and 2001/2
Influence of degree of inequality (dependence) after multivariate analysis: likelihood of contributing to a voluntary pension
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
0% < 20%(35%)
20% - 40%(28%)
40%-60%(24%)
60%-80%(4%)
80% - 100%(9%)
Degree of earnings equality
Od
ds
rati
os
(ref
: eq
ual
ear
ner
s)
23Source: General Household Survey 2000/1 and 2001/2
Behind closed doors...“I’d earned my money and that were
my savings and he earned his money and if he wished to save or spend it that was his, up to him. But as long as our bills were paid, what we did with our money was up to us.”
Alexa
Source: Burgoyne and Sonnenberg, 2009
Behind closed doors...“The way I look at it is that Mark goes to
work and earns a salary, and that is really nothing to do with me ... once our bills and our mortgage and everything is paid at the end of the month, whatever’s left over is his and I shouldn’t have any entitlement to that”.
SallySource: Burgoyne and Sonnenberg, 2009
Even couples who share (pool) their money don’t have freedom to spend...“I mean, probably my only thing is it would
be quite nice to have a certain – we’ve talked about it but we’ve never bothered really – having your own money, a little bit of money to, to spend and – not because I’d want to not tell about it but just to feel its mine to spend...”
Sarah
Source: Burgoyne and Sonnenberg, 2009
27
Gendered households, gendered labour
Within couples, women take on
care work
Women take low paid,flexible work
In female dominated industries
Women’s work is low paid, with poorworking conditions
Men work long hours, take responsibility
For family income
Women who carecan’t compete
In the labour market
GenderedIdentities andDependencies
Adapted from Bellamy and Rake (2005)
Does equality/fairness mean making equal contributions?• If Damien earns £450 a week and Alice earns
£250 a week, and they each contribute £200 a week to the household outgoings of £400 a week
• .....Damien has left £______ to spend for himself, and
• .....Alice has £________
Do you agree or disagree?• Damien and Alice have a fair financial
arrangement
Does equality/fairness mean contributing the same proportions?• If Damien earns £450 a week and Alice earns
£250 a week, and they each contribute 57% of their income to the household outgoings of £400 a week (Damien = £257 a week, and Alice £143)
• .....Damien has left £______ to spend for himself, and
• .....Alice has £________
Do you agree or disagree?• Damien and Alice have a fair financial
arrangement
Does equality/fairness mean having the same amount to spend on yourself?• If Damien earns £450 a week and Alice earns
£250 a week, Damien contributes £300 (67%) and Alice contributes £100 (40%) to the household outgoings of £400 a week
• .....Damien has left £______ to spend for himself, and
• .....Alice has £________
Do you agree or disagree?• Damien and Alice have a fair financial
arrangement
Impact on later life• Because of how men and women organise their lives, AND• Differences in pay and conditions in the labour market, Women, especially mothers, generally don’t have enough money to
contribute to pensions
The spare money they have they tend to spend on children, family and home
The way younger couples organise money behind closed doors means that women generally don’t save for the long term
It is very very rare for men to pay into pensions for their wives/partners
Reflections
